Startup mentors discuss strategies and challenges of creating a new business.

Wayne Sutton: We Need a Bottom-Up Approach

WAYNE SUTTON: Having a conversation about gender bias in the startup community in an open forum can be as toxic as talking negative about venture capitalists. It’s like an unwritten rule for founders: Don’t do it, focus on your company, your product and getting users.

The startup community prides itself on meritocracy and saying the Internet is a level playing field. It’s a subtheme of the James S. Adam’s definition of the American Dream: “Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement” regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.” They key word is “ability.” This is where if you look at the history of America, where women and other groups have not always had the opportunity, regardless of their ability.

Fast forward to the 21st Century where the startup community thrives on success stories about who’s raised the most money and whose technical team is the best. Let’s look at some of the most well-known startups: Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Nest, LinkedIn, Dropbox, Evernote, Square and Paypal. Notice a pattern here? All founded by men.

So if you look at the culture of the startup world, including the venture-capital space that powers it, yes, there is a gender bias. The double-edge sword though, which goes back to James S. Adams and meritocracy, is that in 2013 everyone should have a “fair opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.” Unfortunately bias plays a role in team-building and investment.

So, how can founders – both male and female — level the playing field? We need a bottom-up approach. Start with the venture-capital space from an investment side and then develop a youth movement on the other side, while supporting existing programs in the middle. This way we’re planning for the future and dealing with the now.

My suggestion is for all founders to work with these programs and others. I also encourage female founders to break the rules and tell their stories by reaching out to blogs that support women, such as Femgineer and Engineer Girl, as well as to empower other women to do the same.<

As my friend Natalia, founder of the Pipeline Fellowship says: “Change the ratio.” Good luck!

About The Accelerators

For aspiring or actual entrepreneurs, The Accelerators is an online archive of discussion among startup mentors– entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists. Although the blog is no longer being updated, its content lives here and you can see an archive of its tweets through June 2015 @wsjstartup.